Addiction Recovery Basics

Hanley Center Prevention Services is actively working with NACoA to prevent and reduce underage drinking. Please see below a Call to Action for the U.S. Surgeon General.

 Subject: Message from NACoA re Surgeon General’s Call to Action Dear NACoA Affiliates and Colleagues:

A few hours ago NACoA was among those present when the Acting Surgeon General announced an urgent Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. Every day we go about our work with the knowledge that children of alcoholics are four times more likely than non-COAs to develop alcoholism. Couple that with the fact that young people who start drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol problems later in life than those who begin drinking at age 21 or older, and you know why those of us whose mission includes children of alcoholics are keenly focused on the potential for this Call to Action which includes this statement: “Alcohol remains the most heavily abused substance by America’s youth.

We can no longer ignore what alcohol is doing to our children. This Call to Action is exactly that a call to every American to join with the Surgeon General in a national effort to address underage drinking early, continuously, and in context of human development. Underage drinking is everybody’s problem and its solution is everyone’s responsibility.” The Surgeon General said, “I have issued this Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking to focus national attention on this enduring problem and on new, disturbing research which indicates that the developing adolescent brain may be particularly susceptible to long-term negative consequences from alcohol use.

Recent studies show that alcohol consumption has the potential to trigger long-term biological changes that may have detrimental effects on the developing adolescent brain, including neurocognitive impairment.” He also says: “A significant point of the Call to Action is this: Underage alcohol use is not inevitable, and schools, parents, and other adults are not powerless to stop it.” The Call to Action has 6 Goals and lists action under each. There are strategies for parents, colleges, law enforcement, the alcohol industry, entertainment and media industries, government and policy makers NACoA will mail a printed copy to you as soon as we are able to get copies in our office.
In the meantime, the Call to Action can be found at http://addictionrecoverybasics.com/www.surgeongeneral.govand also at http://addictionrecoverybasics.com/www.StopAlcoholAbuse.gov We urge all NACoA affiliates to carefully consider this important document. Consider what you are already doing in the context of the Call to Action and examine how your mission and work can contribute to the larger effort. At the same time, look at how this Call to Action can add persuasive science and political will to make your own efforts more effective.

Judy Galloway,

JDCoordinator, Program Initiatives

National Association for Children of Alcoholics

Technorati Tags: alcohol-consumption, Underage-drinking

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